Hendry with the B&H Masters trophy in 1996

"I've had a lot of good times there."

Hendry was allowed to keep the old trophy when he claimed his fifth successive title in 1993.

And, not surprisingly, he rates his amazing comeback from 0-7 and 2-8 behind to beat Mike Hallett 9-8 in the final two years earlier as his highlight.

"To become the first player to win it five in a row, and they gave me the trophy to keep, means I will always have great memories of it," said Hendry.

"At 7-0 down I wasn't thinking about winning the match. I wanted to win two or three frames, and not get beaten 9-0 to try to make the score respectable.

Practice makes perfect

"The more frames that I managed to pull back, the more I could see him under pressure. That gave me a little bit more hope."

Hendry went out of the Regal Welsh Open in the quarter-finals when he felt he could have won the tournament.

"I'm confident about my game at the moment. I still believe I'm good enough to win - it's as simple as that," he declared.

"The day I think I'm not good enough to win is the day where there will be no enjoyment for me. I still look forward to going to tournaments to compete."

But Hendry does admit he is finding it more difficult to motivate himself for practice sessions, which last up to five hours each day.

"Those sort of things don't have the same appeal as they used to. By the same token, if I stopped putting in the practice, I wouldn't be able to compete," he added.